Ursula Garza Papandrea, the President of USA Weightlifting, has been elected the Vice President of the International Weightlifting Federation. She is the first woman to be elected to the position.

Last fall, the IWF constitution was changed to require two positions on the board, Vice President and Executive Board Member, be filled by women and Papandrea won the vote against Moira Lassen who is a pioneer in women's weightlifting in her own right.

Papandrea will be helping the newly re-elected IWF President Tamas Ajan, who is now serving his fifth term, grow and protect the sport of weightlifting through what will certainly be an exciting and difficult quad.

The IWF was rocked before the 2016 Olympics with massive doping controversies around retested samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics where dozens of weightlifters tested positive. It remains to be seen what the fall out from that will be, but with Ajan and Papandrea at the helm of a capable board, we can have a lot of confidence in the future of the sport.

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